17.03.2026
A new review published in The Lancet – co-authored by Dr Felicia Low of Koi Tū Centre for Informed Futures – highlights the importance of boys’ and men’s health in shaping pregnancy, child, and family outcomes.
The paper brings together biological and social research on men’s role in preconception health.
It finds that health and life experiences across the male life course – from childhood and adolescence through early adulthood – can influence men’s wellbeing at reproductive ages, as well as maternal health and child development.
The authors note that boys and young men remain an under-recognised population for preconception health interventions.
Greater attention to men’s health, relationships, and roles as partners and fathers could support more equitable approaches to improving pregnancy outcomes and family wellbeing.
The review builds on a Koi Tū evidence brief published in July 2022 on fathers’ biological contributions to child health, expanding the focus to include wider social, cultural, and policy influences.
